Too Little Too Late
by Kitty Matrix
Summary: Matrix and AndrAIa's only daughter Sora has known nothing but suffering and pain. Since the moment of her parent's death, her world has been left to crumble. Now she is left as the only hope for the net. Prequel to The Renegade Maiden.


Okay, hello, my name is Kitty Matrix. I am not new to the fanfic scene, but to the ReBoot scene I definitely am. I write fanfiction under different alias names, each for basically a different fandom. My ReBoot stories will always be under this alias.

This is my first attempt at a ReBoot fanfiction. This story is actually a prequel to another one I have going called _The Renegade Maiden_. This story just goes a little bit more in depth about the main character's history and what drives her to become what she is. You do not need to read this story to understand _The Renegade Maiden_.__

The time system in this story goes the way I think it does. Please do not e-mail me saying you believe it is this way because I don't think its ever really explained in ReBoot the series.

Nanosecond – Second

Nano – Minute

Millisecond – Hour

Second – Day

Minute – Week

Cycle – Month

Hour – Year

Okay now that I have that over and done with I have one last comment. This story is rated between PG-13 and R depending on how graphic I go into details later. This story shall not become a hentai (NC17), I do not write hentai stories so please do not request them. 

Please read and review.

Too Little Too Late

(Prequel to The Renegade Maiden)

By Kitty Matrix

Standing over the graves, Sora awaited something to happen, as though the bodies of her family would rise from the ashes and come to her, as though everything were as it should be. She longed to go back to a time on Mainframe where the viruses could be dealt with, before their power had grown far more enormous than it was currently. She longed to go back to a time where things were clear in view, where her aunt and uncle would be there beside her at all times. She longed to see them again. She longed to see something but the mysterious tome stones erected by Sora and her cousins to be empty of the bodies that lay dead in Mainframe. Now two more tombs rested amongst them, those of her wonderful cousins and companions Mikala and Drake Micro, the children of Bob and Dot Micro.

Closing her eyes she was brought back to the last of those fateful days on Mainframe when she had left the place that she had loved and Mainframe had lost.

_Sora awoke with a start as someone ruffled her in her bed. Looking up it was her uncle, Bob, whose eyes were glazed over in fear. Unable to neither speak nor move, he continued to shake her relentlessly until she gave him a sign she was listening._

_Yawning, she stretched and looked him in the eyes._

_"The viruses are here Sora, quickly, hand me your icon."_

_Sora looked questioningly at her uncle but did as she did, removing her icon from her torn old nightgown, she handed it to her uncle._

_He closed his eyes, a silent prayer to the User emerged, so silent Sora only caught a few words that weren't strung together. Finally he opened his eyes and removed his icon. Uttering a command, the downloading of the guardian protocol began, Sora's eyes wide with surprise._

_Handing her back her icon, Bob smiled lightly._

_"There are few guardians left in the net, Sora, you should be proud."_

_Sora nodded her head._

_"Now go get your cousins and report to Dot in the principle office, and hurry!"_

_*_

_Sora pulled her young cousins by the hands toward the principle office as the buildings around her crumbled and slowly depleted and toppled to the ground. Hurrying them, she managed to spot her best friend, Troy Tracer, in the distance awaiting them at the principle office. Quickly entering, Sora pulled her little cousins, twins Mika and Drake Micro into the main office of the principle office where Dot, Bob, Phong, Enzo, Mouse and Ray awaited them._

_"Mom, dad, what's going on?" Troy asked in concern._

_Mouse looked towards her son and brushed her hand over his cheek before turning to face Ray._

_"Son, the fire walls are collapsing, I'm afraid…" Ray began as he noticed the look of knowledge in Sora's eyes as she stood watching them all._

_"We're being sent away aren't we Aunt Dot?"_

Dot looked towards her niece and simply nodded.

_"We're sending you to the twin city, Hard Drive." Bob stated. "Its not much but its safer than here."_

_Sora nodded her head as Bob began the preparations to send the four little sprites away._

Sora's eyes were burning more than usual with the stinging sensation of the evaporation salty tears in her eyes. Troy had arrived beside her, though she was unable to tell when.

"Thinking about them again?"

Sora nodded.

"I wish I could have said a better good bye to them, all of them. But at the time there was nothing any of us could have done, it was all so quick."

Troy nodded.

Sora turned her head back towards the two young sprite's tomes, Mikala and Drake's.

_Watching. Waiting._

_Pressing her hand on the icon on her belt, Sora Matrix awaited a game, a game that would take her out of the dismal hellhole she had come to call home._

_Or at least what she had once called her home away from home._

_Her cousin Mikala watched earnestly, her hand pushing her icon back and forth between her fingers on her necklace. She didn't know what to say nor do in these awkward moments of silence. For some reason she knew there should have been more emotion, but emotion lay dry and withered in any empty attempts to salvage the situation._

_Her companions were leaving that day whether she liked it or not._

_Troy Tracer kept his distance from the two sprites, his eyes closed in a silent, meditated thought. He didn't quite know what to do or say either. All that he knew was that for the first time in his life, no their lives, they would be alone. Sora had, less than eagerly, brought up the proposition of finding Mainframe again and trying to salvage any hope for the poor desolate system._

_Although Troy had originally dismissed the idea, he had soon come to embrace it, knowing that it was their only chance. Young Drake Micro, Dot and Bob's son and Mika's twin brother, was lying in the shackles of death, and Troy knew the only hope for the curing of the viral infection was to find Mainframe._

_Warning! Incoming game! Warning! Incoming game!_

_Looking toward her cousin, Sora beckoned her to stay. Troy awaited Sora to hurry, calmly displacing any fears or sadness in their fair well behind him as he tried to push Sora forwards through the streets of Hard Drive, Mainframe's resurrected twin city._

"You'll be back, right?" Mika asked as she watched the two datasprites turn and stalk towards the relatively close game cube.

_Sora merely continued walking, never glancing back to see the little sprite, with fear in her innocent young eyes who could only watch as her only protectors left her to find a home that could easily have been destroyed._

Sora's head lowered as though in defeat.

"I should have said good bye to her, Troy, and now she's gone,"

Troy put his arm tentatively around her waist, pulling the renegade closer to him. She rarely allowed anyone, even Troy, to touch her, but at that moment it didn't matter.

"You didn't know,"

"It's been ten damn hours Troy, and I'm back here again. I told Drake we'd be back in time."

Troy rubbed her back slowly.

"We were just a too little too late." Troy stated as he continued to rub her back.

Sora snarled slightly and pulled away.

"I'm sick of hearing that Troy. I'm so damn tired of searching."

"I know Sora, so am I, but we can't quit."

"I know that but what's the use? By the time we reach Mainframe, if we ever do, what's the chance of any survivors?"

"Well it's better than sitting around here for the rest of our lives, wasting our time."

Sora shook her head in remorse pressing her hands onto her hips.

"I really miss them," Sora stated, turning her head down and for a moment was thankful Troy couldn't see her would be teary eyes.

"So do I and when we go to the past Sora, User help us, we shall destroy them. This time Sora they wont succeed."

Watching her friend closely she nodded.

The two stood together for a few more moments before Sora turned to walk towards Hard Drive's principle office to complete the icon upgrade the enables backup system traveling (i.e. time traveling).

Troy smiled lightly and followed Sora, her guns flopping back and forth on her thighs as she walked. Troy's hand rested on his sword hilt at his side, as he caught up to her to finish this journey, once and for all.

_"I come from the Future_

_I travel through_

_Systems, peoples and cities_

_To this place_

_Mainframe_

_My Birthplace_

_My Format Renegade Guardian_

_To Mend, Defend and_

_Kick Some ASCII"_

The End

To be continued in _The Renegade Maiden_ by Kitty Matrix.

Please review!


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